1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device having an improved mechanism for enabling and disabling a short-range wireless communications element used to create a connection to a short-range wireless network, such as a Bluetooth™ network. The invention also relates to an improved method of enabling and disabling such a short-range wireless communications element.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable and thus are relatively small.
Many handheld electronic devices include and provide access to a wide range of integrated applications, including, without limitation, email, telephone, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), browser, calendar and address book applications, such that a user can easily manage information and communications from a single, integrated device. These applications are typically selectively accessible and executable through a user interface that allows a user to easily navigate among and within these applications.
In addition, handheld electronic devices often include short-range communications functionality that enables the handheld electronic device to communicate wirelessly over a short-range wireless network with other similarly equipped mobile and stationary electronic devices. For example, many handheld electronic devices include a Bluetooth™ communications module for enabling the handheld electronic device to communicate with other Bluetooth™ enabled mobile or stationary electronic devices over a Bluetooth™ short-range wireless network.
As is known in the art, Bluetooth™ is a wireless technology standard developed by a “Special Interest Group” comprised of members of the telecommunications, computing, and networking industries that allows mobile and stationary electronic devices to communicate with each other over short distances (typically less than 30 feet). Bluetooth™ uses radio frequency (RF) waves in the 2.4 Gigahertz range, and is designed to be a secure and inexpensive way of connecting between devices without wires. Bluetooth™ requires that each device be equipped with a Bluetooth™ communications element, such as the STLC2500 chip sold by STMicroelectronics of Geneva, Switzerland, that includes an RF transceiver element for sending and receiving information according to the Bluetooth™ standard.
When Bluetooth™-capable devices come within range of one another, an electronic conversation takes place to determine whether they have data to share or whether one needs to control the other. Once the conversation has occurred, the devices form an ad hoc network, called a piconet, that may fill a room or may encompass no more distance than that between a cell phone on a belt-clip and a headset on a person's head. Once a piconet is established, the members (which may range from two to eight devices) randomly hop frequencies in unison so they stay in touch with one another and avoid other piconets that may be operating in the same area.
Traditionally, if a user of a Bluetooth™-capable handheld electronic device wanted to enable and/or disable the Bluetooth™ communications module of the device, the user had to navigate through numerous options/settings screens to reach the controls for enabling and/or disabling the Bluetooth™ communications module. Such traditional devices are said to have “buried” Bluetooth™ on/off controls. Because of the added difficulty in enabling and/or disabling the Bluetooth™ communications module, users of such traditional devices typically either rarely enabled the Bluetooth™ functionality or left the Bluetooth™ communications module enabled indefinitely, thereby unnecessarily depleting battery power. As will be appreciated, these same problems may also apply to other short-range wireless communications technologies employed by a handheld electronic device for communicating with other devices. Thus, there is a need for a handheld electronic device having an improved, simplified mechanism for enabling and disabling a short-range wireless communications element used to create a connection to a short-range wireless network, such as a Bluetooth™ network.